Great post, Ziggy... and thanks for bringing up the "final offer." Blake must've felt pretty disrespected after that. I know that I wouldn't be too thrilled to continue being Captain for an organization that treated me like that. When Blake resigned the Captaincy, he may've been doing what he felt was best for the club or just lashing back, but can you blame him? Instead of being bitter at Blake, try being bitter at Gilmore (or whoever it was in the brass). Without those "negotiating" tactics, Blake might actually have signed eventually and stayed a King.
Yes , yes, yes. And... he wanted to get market rate for his services. He wanted to play on a winner, which means a Stanley Cup team.
So, all you boo-birds, get real and grow up. Be honest for once and ask yourselves for how long you would continue working for bosses who underpaid you and disrespected you and were leading their companies along a path of mediocrity? If you looked in the paper and saw that the rate per hour for your skills was $30 per hour and your boss was only offering $25..you get the point!
What I like about this is that we are not committed longterm and we have not given the farm away. We have to have a minimum salary level, so we can't put out 20+ players all making less than $1m. We have good coaching. So why not go for it.
We also have the option if this year turns out to be a bust of trading at the deadline and getting some picks and prospects for the older gentlemen manning our blueline. We just have to commit a little sooner than in the past to being either a buyer or a seller. I think that most of DT's worst trade decisions have come from a last minute decision to be a buyer at the trade deadline leading to some truly deadful trades. Hopefully DL will do better - can't do much worse.
I was a Blake boo'er, however I booed out of respect as he was my favorite player at the time and he became the enemy when he was traded. His trade left a huge void on our blueline which was never refilled.
I like that he is coming back - I will cheer when he is introduced as he is back where he belongs. He should be a great mentor to Gleason and hopefully Petiot as well. I am not expecting the Norris trophy Blake, but I do expect a very solid player that has character and leadership skills which are two traits this team has lacked. The main things is, our defense just got better - add Blake (Stanley Cup & Norris trophy winner) & subtract Corvo.
I agree the price was high, but with only 2 years on the contract it shouldn't be a burden.
Yeah because Blake's final contract offer was sooo low, a measly 8.25 million. Waa, cry me a river Blake. The way he left this team was a disgrace and I'll never forget it. You guys can say grow up and yada yada, but I don't forget things like that.
As a somewhat impartial observer, I don't think the signing is that bad, as I think it might be a bit of an overpayment, but if Rob Blake plays like he has in the past, it could be somewhat of a bargain. But, Dean Lombardi's two biggest moves as Kings GM seem to contradict one another. I know he got very good value for Pavol Demitra, but, Demitra is a complete steal at $4.5 million for what he brings to the table, and if you want to move your team forward, you don't trade that away, unless it's a deal you simply cannot refuse, or if you plan to trade one of those assets away to gain someone to replace or even improve upon Demitra, which I don't think Lombardi will do. I think DL figured he would sign an impact free agent forward, but he missed out(I kind of thought he would), and now the best free agent center is, well, Jason Allison. Unless DL can make a trade for the first liner he needs to go with the talented Kings forward he has, I'm not sure what the hell he's doing right about now. But, then again, many people said Brian Burke was doing the same thing at the trade deadline, when really, he actually helped out the team alot for their run.
Okay...Let me re write what I said. Stay with the Kings and loose for 8.25 Million or go to the Avalanche play with Sakic , Forsberg , Bourqe , Foote , Roy and Win a stanley cup and make 2 million dollars more.
Okay...Let me re write what I said. Stay with the Kings and loose for 8.25 Million or go to the Avalanche play with Sakic , Forsberg , Bourqe , Foote , Roy and Win a stanley cup and make 2 million dollars more.
This signing doesn't make sense. Why pay $6 million for a 36 year old dman who's game has declined considerably. The only good thing is its only for 2 years. Between norsdrom and blake the kings have commited $10 million on a 35 and 36 yr old dmen. Corvo was an up and comer just getting into his prime and we lose him to ottawa for $2.5 million.
Yeah because Blake's final contract offer was sooo low, a measly 8.25 million. Waa, cry me a river Blake. The way he left this team was a disgrace and I'll never forget it. You guys can say grow up and yada yada, but I don't forget things like that.
I don't forget easily either, but for a different reason.
I remember the contract negotiations well. Had the Kings accepted Blake's counter offer to their initial "well under market" offer, they would have signed him before Pronger's huge dollar contract blew up the entire pay scale - and Blake was asking for much less than $8.25 mil.
By the time the Kings got to their $8.25mil "final" offer, the damage had already been done. Apparently Gilmore was the contract negotiator. His style was to play very strong hardball - take it or leave it, non-negotiable (even if it was). This might be fine in some circumstances, but IMO it doesn't work when dealing with players, especially those who are expected to lead by example. At that point, it wasn't about the money anymore, but the disrespect.
Booing or not booing aside, you know what I think is kind of funny?
What kind of player was everyone screaming for last year... Big, physical, puck-moving defenseman with a huge shot. Hmmm.
I don't really care what name is on the back of the jersey.
After putting up 51 pts, and logging 24 minutes of average ice time last year, I don't think he's going to mysteriously drop off into JR land. If Jovo is worth 6M, getting Blake at 6M for two years is fine by me.
And I guarantee Norstrom will look a hell of a lot better paired with Blake this year than he did with Dempsey or Weaver last year.
Blake Norstrom
Miller Gleason
Lubo Sopel
That will be fantastic for a few weeks before Miller gets injured.
Blake was offered $22.5M over 3 years (see article below). That's $7.5M. Compared to the $9-10M that he was worth at the time (remember, this was before the 24% rollback), that was a low offer. Also, it's not as though he countered with "screw you." He politely turned the offer down and expected them to come back with a better offer, but all that they came back with was an ultimatum that if he didn't accept it, they would trade him. How would you react? Reaper?
That article is from Sep 2000. It should be required reading, IMO. Note that Blake wasn't the monster that some of you remember him as. His comments were as calm and mature as those from yesterday. He never changed; the fans did. I think that it's the fans who have been making it personal, just as it seemed to Rob that management was doing at the time.
This signing doesn't make sense. Why pay $6 million for a 36 year old dman who's game has declined considerably. The only good thing is its only for 2 years. Between norsdrom and blake the kings have commited $10 million on a 35 and 36 yr old dmen. Corvo was an up and comer just getting into his prime and we lose him to ottawa for $2.5 million.
You probably haven't seen him play lately...go ask the avs in this forum if they think he's in the stinker in hi career...a majority in their forum wanted him back. doesn't sound like someone who's on the decline.
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That answer is inextricably contingent upon the type of life being led... and, of course, the quality of the pancakes.
gotta hand it to you jfont. you saw (or wanted to see) this one coming a long way off.
Actually, quite a few of us saw this coming as far back as last Summer, when, at the post-lockout press conference, Leiweke gushed about Blake. I expected this signing to happen and tried to prepare the rest of you, but, boy, did I and a couple others encounter harsh resistance all year long
As a somewhat impartial observer, I don't think the signing is that bad, as I think it might be a bit of an overpayment, but if Rob Blake plays like he has in the past, it could be somewhat of a bargain. But, Dean Lombardi's two biggest moves as Kings GM seem to contradict one another. I know he got very good value for Pavol Demitra, but, Demitra is a complete steal at $4.5 million for what he brings to the table, and if you want to move your team forward, you don't trade that away, unless it's a deal you simply cannot refuse, or if you plan to trade one of those assets away to gain someone to replace or even improve upon Demitra, which I don't think Lombardi will do. I think DL figured he would sign an impact free agent forward, but he missed out(I kind of thought he would), and now the best free agent center is, well, Jason Allison. Unless DL can make a trade for the first liner he needs to go with the talented Kings forward he has, I'm not sure what the hell he's doing right about now. But, then again, many people said Brian Burke was doing the same thing at the trade deadline, when really, he actually helped out the team alot for their run.
I think that Minnesota probably started the trade talks with the Kings, and DL just felt that the offer was too good to pass up.
O'Sullivan is going to be a great NHL'er, plus they got the chance to aquire a player they really liked in Lewis, it was just to good to pass up.
I think these signings, plus DL's comments that he isn't finished mean the Kings plan on trying to be a playoff team this season.
You probably haven't seen him play lately...go ask the avs in this forum if they think he's in the stinker in hi career...a majority in their forum wanted him back. doesn't sound like someone who's on the decline.
He was one if not the best player for the Avs in the playoffs and after two or three months adapting to the 'new NHL' he's been very solid defensively as well. He's probably no longer a Norris calibre defenseman but he's still in the top 10. A player with that body and those abilities in both zones that can play 25-30 minutes is a rare specimen nowadays in this league. If he's worth $6M is another issue but looking at the prices these UFA's are going for right now I bet if the Kings didn't offer him that some other team would have.
I would have preferred to see him in an Avs jersey next year obviously, but that just wasn't possible due to cap issues sadly enough. I don't hold it against him that he went back to the Kings and wish him all the best. And since I kind of like the Kings anyway it's not that horrible, it would have been worse had he signed for say, Vancouver
Ok immediately after the Demitra deal I was calling for DL's job. But after his signing of Blake, I've reconsidered my position. I think dumping Demitra's contract to get Blake was a good deal. For those who still think we were ripped off in the Demitra deal, think of it this way essentially we traded Pavol Demitra for Rob Blake, Patrick O'Sullivan and a draft pick. I say we got the best out of that deal.
Does signing Blake suddenly change the future for LA though? Basically, I think we filled the hole we needed to fill and this rebuilding DL has claimed we are doing may be better than most teams' rebuilding. I figure with Blake on the blueline, we may do better than last season and actually make the playoffs.
I'm happy with picking up a very high potential prospect in O'Sullivan but we really need to pick up someone to replace Demitra's spot on the front line, it is to early in his carear to stick O'Sullivan in the first line.
I'm happy with picking up a very high potential prospect in O'Sullivan but we really need to pick up someone to replace Demitra's spot on the front line, it is to early in his carear to stick O'Sullivan in the first line.
I don't think O'Sullivan will be the first line. I still like Frolov-Kopitar-Tukonen as the Kings' first line. But really, I figure Kopitar will pick up the slack Demitra had and the hole on our blueline is finally filled. So what other holes do the Kings have?
I think with the improved D, the goaltending gets better. I remember an old Nordiques game where I think it was Ron Tugnutt made 65 saves in a 5-2 loss. Basically that's what I saw last season with our goaltending. We had two decent goalies but with a bad blueline we gave up far too many shots. When teams are averaging between 35 and 40 shots a game on your team, you are bound to lose games.
they gave him 10.25 million 
